The Lovettes: Introducing Kate and Tim and their Charity Shop Inspired Tuscan Wedding

Hello lovely lunch time readers, have you been following our new Lovettes series? For those of you new to Love My Dress, the ‘Lovettes’ are our team of blogging brides – an extended team of women at all stages in their wedding planning and from all walks of life, but all sharing on thing on common – they’re planning a wedding and they want to share their adventure and experiences with you.  This lunch time, I’m so very happy to be introducing you to Lovette Kate, a lady I have actually had the very good fortune of meeting and working with already.  Back in 2012, we collaborated on an Oxfam Weddings Auction and Photoshoot that went on to raise £40K for charity (an achievement I still feel immensely proud of to this day!). This is Kate’s first post for Love My Dress, so please join me in welcoming her to our little community and making her feel at home by leaving a lovely comment below – thank you so much, Annabel x

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Nothing makes me happier than a love story. That’s actually what first attracted me to start reading Love My Dress.  As much as I enjoy the daily inspiration of stunning dresses, beautiful photography and crafty touches, what I love most of all is to read people’s stories. The simple details of how they came to be together, how they got engaged, and all the little personal and memorable moments that come together in that one special day.

It thus feels like such an honour to be gracing the pages of Love My Dress with our very own story and to have the chance to share our wedding planning journey with all our personal and memorable moments over the coming year.

It all began in the lovely seaside town of Weymouth in our early teens. My friend played matchmaker and we went on our first date (if you call if that… we were only 14!). We spent a few months as ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ before I broke up with Tim by email because it was “too much of a long distance relationship”. I am not sure what is more cringe-worthy – using the medium of email to do the dumping or the fact that this was a short bus journey… aha!

A few years later we bumped into each other on a beach and it sparked us to get back in touch. Over the next year we spoke more and more and became quite inseparable. At a party at my house in early May 2005, we finally got brave enough to say that we had wanted it to be more than just a friendship. The rest – as they say – is history. We celebrated our ten year anniversary last week!

The thing that sticks in my mind so much about that night in May 2005 is that my good friend said to us “You two will be get married one day…” well, she was right!

Tim proposed when we were on Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod on 24th October last year. I was not expecting it one little bit! I am sure other couple’s who have been together for a fair few years will also be used to the amount of times people tell you that you will get engaged! While I had received the usual series of “He will definitely propose on this holiday” comments before we went away, I hadn’t thought anything of it.

The day had started out really normally. We’d arrived on the Island, eaten a crepe and had a coffee, explored a few sights, Tim had bought a hat and me a cardigan (which I now call my “engagement cardigan”), and we’d even looked around some shops trying to find a magnet for our fridge. We had a bit of a tradition of buying a magnet for our fridge for every place we go… I think we’ll need a bigger fridge soon! Tim kept saying “We should go to the beach now…” I just thought he really wanted to go to the beach!

Walking along the beach, again none the wiser, I was waffling on, “isn’t it cold?” and “shouldn’t we get some lunch”, when Tim got down on one knee and started saying the loveliest things, then “Will you marry me?” I went straight into a series of “Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure?” After I had said that five times (!), to be sure he was sure, Tim said “Course I am sure, so are you saying yes?” And I then I said yes!

It is really quite a blur. I wish we could do it all again! It took me quite some time to realise he was holding the most beautiful ring with a Tanzanite stone, linking back to me having visited Tanzania volunteering when we were first together. We stood for a long time hugging not knowing quite what to do next! So we did all the important things: Tim took a film of the beach, we did the obligatory ‘selfie’ photos and I picked a shell off the beach as a memento. Then we went and got a sandwich! I am not sure if it was because we’d just got engaged, but it was the best sandwich we’ve ever eaten.

Plans are now in full swing with a year to go. Our wedding date is 31st May 2016 and we are getting married in the rolling hills of Tuscany, Italy in a little town called Certaldo in Chianti. For no other reason than we just love Italy and our travels! So, we are following our hearts and also our pizza/gelato/Prosecco-loving bellies on this one!

As one little anecdote to leave you with of plans so far. On my first visit to a bridal shop, I tried on my first wedding dress and stood on the little podium, not quite sure what to do with myself.  The assistant turned to me with a big smile on her face and said “Well don’t you just look like the most magnificent bridal cloud.” That’s a first… never thought I’d be described as a cloud….

So, as I journey through this year in my “bridal cloud”, I am so happy to have the wonderful readers of Love My Dress by my side to smile and laugh through the whole adventure.

Kate xxx

A little background on Kate and Tim

As this is Kate’s first post for Love My Dress,  we thought it would be nice to share some of her original Lovettes application with you all – to help you get to know her a little better.  We’ll be doing the same for all our new Lovettes when it comes to sharing their first posts.

Kate Kellaway-Moore will marry Tim Bunce on 2nd June 2016

You can find Kate via her blog, on Pinterest and Instagram

How they met:

We first got together in our early teens, at the beautiful age of 14. My friend Katie decided to play matchmaker and sent us on a ‘blind date’ to the lovely seaside town of Weymouth in January 2003. It was the perfect teen relationship, lasting about 4 completely inseparable months and ending with me dumping him by email because I “couldn’t be in a long-distance relationship”. Entirely laughable. Not only in term of the medium of dumping, but also the fact that the “distance” was only a 30-minute bus journey.

We didn’t speak for a few years and then met by chance at a beach party while celebrating our A-level results. Over the next year we became the best of friends and friendship blossomed into love. We have been together since, just coming up to our 10-year anniversary in May (2015). Over our years we have both been to different universities (making the “‘long-distance’ dumping even more humorous) and in 2010 we moved to Witney Oxfordshire to live together. I work as a charity fundraiser for Oxfam and Tim works for a bank.

Tim proposed last year, on October 24th, completely unexpectedly, on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, while we were on holiday. It took me so much by surprise I actually said ‘Are you sure?’ five times! It was one of those moments in life when you just want to take in everything – the sound of the waves crashing, the feel of the chilly breeze against your cheek, the smell of the sea, the beautiful sparkling ring in the light (of course!). It was all completely overwhelming. We both just stood there completely not knowing what to do. So we did the logical thing after you get engaged and went to get a sandwich. We both believe this was the best sandwich we’ve ever had – perhaps it actually was, but probably being engaged just made it all that much tastier!

About their wedding:

In it’s simplest and purest form we just want the day to be about us getting married – the vows and promises we make, the words we’ll share together though speeches and readings, celebrating our love and life!

We have decided to get married in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy, among the rolling green hills, cyprus trees and olive groves. We love our travels so it was always going to be a wedding/holiday combo. Tuscany is beautiful, full of amazing food and wine , with a real family culture – giving it all the best components of a great wedding location.

Currently finalising a venue. We have picked a villa near San Gimignano called ‘Villa Iris’, which we are just confirming at the moment. It felt like destiny when we found it as it was Tim’s grandma’s favourite flower, who sadly passed two years ago. It will feel quite intimate as it is a holiday rental villa. We will hold our reception at the villa for around 70 of our favourite people, with the wedding ceremony in Certaldo Alto – or at least this is the plan. The main components will be a pizza and gelato picnic, prosecco, a little fiat 500, a dinner in Tuscan style (i.e. many courses over around 5 hours) and me trying to walking along the cobbled streets in beautiful shoes and a very sparkly dress…not quite in that order!

We are going to take lots of inspiration from the location, taking from the colours, textures and just general beauty of the rolling hills, adding in lots of floral touches. Finishing it off with candles everywhere, fairy lights and a dance floor under the stars!

When you get married everyone says it is “your day and you should do exactly want you want to”, which we wholeheartedly agree with. But actually we also want it to be about everyone who is there with us. In the 10 years we’ve been together, it is has never been just about us. Our relationship has been made up of moments shared with lots of lovely people, so we also want it to be a special day for them too. We don’t just want it to reflect us as a couple but have personal touches for all our friends and family that will mean something to them too.

The other thing we really want to be part of our wedding is charity. Working at Oxfam and both being incredibly passionate about all the super causes out there, it has become such a part of both of our lives and we want to reflect that. So our wedding will no doubt be a treasure trove of charity shop details… excited for many, many trips sourcing all the details!

What does marriage mean?

I recently heard a story and it made me really think about what marriage means. It is not necessarily a story that might jump to your mind because it was actually about a couple splitting up (at least in the first instance). The story was about a couple who had spent many years in an unhappy marriage. The wife eventually decided to leave but found, when she did, she didn’t have the happiness she thought she would. One day she sat on a plane and saw an older couple talking. She thought to herself “how lovely that that older couple are still so happy when they have been together so many years”. When she listened a little closer it became clear they weren’t an old married couple, they were actually an older couple who were dating. It was at this moment she realised she wanted her husband back – she wanted to be with someone who knew exactly who she was and had that history together. To cut quite a long story short (the husband had also been on his own journey of realisation), they ended up reunited and found the true happiness together that they had been searching for!

Seems a strange story to tell, but it really made me think of what marriage means. I want to grow old with Tim and him with me. To build a life together, to give support, help us achieve our dreams and ambitions, see the world together, make a family, be there during the harder times and the good times – doing that together ’till death do us part’.

Favourite Hollywood Icon?

There is only one person I could pick and that is Sophia Loren. My mum was actually named after her (‘Loren’). Sophia is Italian, glamorous and loves sparkle, oozes romance, shares an important family link and knows exactly what she wants to be! Our wedding will be Italian (tick!), of course it will be glam and full of sparkle (tick), there will definitely be romance (tick) and will be a day of sharing what our family is and will forever be (tick!)!

Favourite Love My Dress wedding:

It is absolutely this one. I love the ethereal light, the touches of romance and detail, but most of all that it all feels part of the landscape and them – like the couple are ‘one’ with their wedding. The dress (and it wouldn’t be ‘Love My Dress’ if that didn’t take centre-stage) is a work of art and – as a floral obsessive – is something my wedding dress dreams are made of.